


Same coin, different side

by A_Lighthouse_in_the_Sea_of_Time



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: And punch you in the face!, Gen, We are the Homeworld Gems, We're here to rule your world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-22 15:52:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3734608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Lighthouse_in_the_Sea_of_Time/pseuds/A_Lighthouse_in_the_Sea_of_Time
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a bunch of shorts with the Crystal Gem's replaced with  the Homeworld Gems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. So many birthdays

**Author's Note:**

> So I figured the best one to start off with was a little scene from So many birthdays. We'll see where this goes.

"Hrrm, I hate this." Jasper grumbled to herself, crossing her tree trunk arms across her chest as she pouted. She, along with Peridot and Lapis were sitting at the grounds area of the lighthouse, watching as the half-gem pranced about like a fool. All because Lapis had to open her big fat mouth. The only reason they were up here instead of doing something productive like training or punching corrupted Gems was because the tiny blue idiot had revealed to Steven that Gems didn't even celebrate their birthdays. This of course led to the pudgy little thing convincing them, or rather Lapis, to let him put on a show for each of their many missed birthdays.

First had been Peridot, who surprisingly put down her info screen long enough to watch Steven put on a puppet show of what he thought her typical day was. Jasper had to admit she chuckled when Steven had jumped out in a crudely made Peridot costume and began stomping all over the Jasper and Peridot puppets screaming  _"DON'T TOUCH MY THINGS!"_. Peridot hadn't found it so funny.

The second one to receive the boys attention had been Jasper herself, and admittedly it wasn't so bad. The boy had put on a small slideshow of pictures he'd captured of Jasper over the years, a lot of them showing her amazing exploits. She didn't realize how often she liked to pose over corrupted Gems she'd defeated, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Her favorite part was when Steven had ended the slide show with a crudely drawn picture of Jasper flexing her guns while she had one foot planted on top of the Earth with  _"Who's next?"_  captioned beneath.

But even if those two had been entertaining in their own ways, the small comedy routine Steven was doing for Lapis right now was by far the most boring excuse for a waste of time she'd ever seen. "Haaaate thi-"

"Oh quiet," Peridot snapped, causing the larger Gem to frown down at her smaller companion. "You sat through the Stevens first two parties, you can sit through this one."

Jasper grumbled but remained quiet, bringing her attention back to Steven as he was entertaining Lapis. The blue Gem was happily going along with the boys antics, even wearing a typical Earth party hat for the occasion. "Nerd." She mumbled, grinning down at a cross Peridot.

"Alright, now for some jokes!" Steven announced excitedly, putting away his magician's cape and hat and instead pulling a fake rubber nose from his bag of party favors and donning it. Lapis clapped happily and had the biggest grin you'd ever seen on her face as she watched with anticipation. "Ahem, alright so stop me if you've heard this one. Wh-"

"Stop." Japser interrupted, before chuckling lightly. Her laughter stopped as she caught Lapis turned around, giving her a thousand mile stare that caused the larger Gem to gulp. "S-sorry." With that Lapis turned back around, her smile back in place and Jasper wondering if Gems could have a heart attack?

"Anyways," Steven continued. "Why did Peridot take her computer to the farm?"

"What, I didn't do that. The Steven, are you spreading false rumors about me? Did you touch my computer!?"

"...Cause she wanted to get more ram!" Steven ended, earning another series of quick claps and laughter from Lapis. 

"No really, have you been touching my stuff?"


	2. So many birthdays pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing where we left off in chapter one, how will the Homeworld Gems react when Steven is aging, to the death!  
> Not, like, death as in a place, I mean like he's aging so fast that he's dy-and wait, it's not like aging is a way of travel, I mean you CAN say you traveled in time, but that a really jackass kind of thing to say, cause like you didn't travel. That's like if I told my boss I needed time off to go traveling, and he caught my ass lounging on my couch and I be all like "I was traveling in time bro."  
> That shit'll get ya' ass fired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, tell me what ya'll think of this. I originally started this story as a little favor to an anon on /sug/, the request was Steven raised by the Homeworld Gems and that was it. I was just gonna' go the simple route, have the funny and sad bits we've come to know in the series, but instead of the Crystal Gems we have the Homeworld ones.  
> Then an idea struck me.  
> What if instead I went about this in a different way, what if Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis weren't Homeworld Gems, but were the three Gems that Rose had come to know as her closest friends, like how Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were in the main series? It would open up a bit more stuff, like exactly how different would Jasper be if Rose had gotten to her early enough, would Peridot still be the cold calculating Gem we know her as today or would there be something more going on.  
> Lapis would still be Lapis cause that bitch be a whole bag of fun.  
> But yeah, tell me what ya' think.

Lapis smiled happily to herself, humming the happy birthday tune that Steven had taught them as she and the other Gems were busy cleaning up the beach of their mess. Amazing how just a couple of party streamers and balloons could cause such a mess. "You know I gotta' say, I enjoyed today a whole lot more than I thought I would. We need to do something really special when Steven's birthday comes up.

Peridot grumbled, standing up straight as she totted around a garbage bag full of streamers and popped balloons. "Says the Gem currently not digging through the sand for deflated rubbers because Jasper couldn't help herself."

"I don't think that's the right word for those." Lapis pondered, tapping her chin as she tried to recall where she'd heard the word "rubber" from.

"They are inflatable objects made of rubber, what other word would I use?" Peridot questioned, jabbing one of her digits into the ground and impaling another balloon before tossing it into the bag with the rest.

"I just think it means something else, like those things humans use when they're engaged in interco-"

"'Sup loosers." Jasper cut Lapis off, grinning from ear to ear as she was wearing the birthday suit Steven had come up with, her hand planted on her sides as the cape bellowed in the wind and the crown gleamed in the moonlight.

"You know you don't _have_ to wear that anymore." Peridot said, eyeing Jasper and her silly outfit.

"Nah, I look good in this. I'm thinkin' of wearin' this all the time," Jasper replied, grabbing the hem of the cape and then bringing it up till only her eyes showed. "It makes me look mysterious."

"Why you'd continue to wear that certainly is a mystery." Peridot dry panned.

Lapis shook her head, chuckling at her friends little bickering. The sudden thumping sounds of Lions approaching caught her attention, and the blue Gem dropped the table she'd been putting away in shock, her voice catching in her throat for a second before. "STEVEN!" She rushed over to where Lion had dropped the boy, or rather the old man. Rather than his usual boyish and childlike appearance that Lapis loved so much, Steven now resembled someone in their late sixties, in human terms at least. She cradled his body gently, holding him just like she had when he'd been a little baby, eyes frantically scanning over his aging body. "Oh my poor baby boy," She bit her lip, tears starting to pour from her eyes. "What happened to you?"

Jasper and Peridot had rushed over as well, both of them doing whatever they could at the moment. This meant for Peridot to run some quick scans, her holo-screen popping up as she read through the information quickly, trying to understand what was happening. For Jasper it meant standing in one spot and hyperventilating. "This shouldn't be happening," The large Gem, running her fingers through her hair in worry. "Gems don't die from aging, WE don't die from aging!"

"But the Steven is only half-gem." Peridot replied, trying her best to remain calm and figure out a way to fix this issue. "His human side is a very different story. Lapis, sit him over by Lion." The green Gem barely looked away from her screen, too many variables and not enough time.

Lapis was bawling her eyes out at this point, mouth constantly spewing unintelligble words of babble as she sit her little Steven against Lion's soft hide. "I-is there anything we can do for you sweetie?!" She blubbered out, hands clenched together tightly in worry.

The aging Steven groaned as he looked around, eyes finally settling on Jasper. "My birthday suit might help." Within moments Lapis had yanked the cape and crown off of Jasper, knocking the larger Gem to the ground in the process as she dressed her little man up. He let out another groan, this one somewhat more lively than the one before. "Thanks."

"That's it!" Peridot shouted, eyes scanning over a piece of data once more before huddling with Lapis, soon joined by a crawling Jasper. "The birthday suit caused him to revert in age by a good three months."

"So we need more party suits?!" Lapis quickly grabbed Jasper by the front of her outfit. "Jasper quick, I saw a circus tent being set up earlier in town, go beat up the clowns and take their clothes!" 

Jasper nodded quickly before hopping up, only to be dragged back down by Peridot who rubbed the bridge of her nose in irritation. "No, we don't need more stupid clothes-"

"Awesome clothes." Jasper cut in.

"WE DON'T NEED CLOTHES AT ALL!" The green gem shouted angrily, left eye twitching rather violently. "We just need to keep doing traditional birthday things, this whole thing is a mental problem. The Steven feels too old for, therefore his body makes itself that way. If we get him to feel young again, his body will revert."

"Then let's get this party started!" Jasper roared, jumping up and running over to the still vastly old Steven. "Hey Steven, check this out!" Jasper grabbed a still inflated balloon and untied it, quickly inhaling the helium inside before letting out a very squeaky sigh. "Now I sound just like Peridot!" Her voice was squeakier than a dozen chipmunks, and oddly did resemble the green Gem's voice. "Durr durr, looks like there's a virus in the firewall, better go get some gigabytes before they eat through the internet cable!"

"My voice sounds nothing like that, and you know nothing of what you speak!" Peridot angrily replied, suddenly dressed in a goofy rainbow clown wig and rubber red nose. "Ahem, the Steven I have a joke to tell you. Okay, so a neutron walks into a bar, the neutron sits at this bar and asks the man serving him, the bartender, 'how much for a drink?', and the bartender replies, 'for you, no charge'," Peridot paused for a moment, then honked the rubber nose.

"Ahh, I remember jokes, such kids stuff." Steven groaned, his aging increasing even more.

"Oh no your terrible sense of humor only made it worse!" Jasper cried out, pulling at her hair as Peridot quickly searched through her database for more relevant human.

"Perhaps this one about Aristocrats would work better?" She asked before suddenly getting shoved aside by a still blubbering Lapis.

"Steven!" Lapis sniffed some running snot before holding up a large sweater....made of water. "I-I hope you like this sweater, I made it out TEARS! Bawwwww!" The blue gem placed the liquid garment on her baby's aging body, it somehow retaining it's shape even after she broke down and started crying again, well even more at least.

Peridot was silent for a few seconds, the only sound echoing through the beach was Lapis' cries and Jaspers constant stomping feet. She suddenly approached the half-gem and picked him up, before producing a large hypodermic needle. 

"Peridot no!" Both Jasper and Lapis cried out before pulling the green Gem back before she injected Steven with whatever the syringe had. 

"I-I'm sorry, I thought science was the answer." 

Steven groaned, his eyes half-shut and blurry. His vision was starting to darken but his ears were working just fine. Above him he could hear his friend, his family, arguing with each other, their voices getting louder and louder with every second. It was driving him crazy! "Would you guys just be quiet and stop arguing!" Steven shouted, standing up as his body reverted to that of a middle aged man, the "Professional Beach Hunk" shirt stretched across his hairy chest. 

"Steven!" Lapis cried out happily. "....you get really tall."

Jasper rubbed her eyes as she stared at Steven, Peridot once again running over some tests to figure out what happened.

Steven, suddenly realizing everyone was staring at him and that he'd just basically told his family to shut it began shrinking in size, reverting to that of a late teenager. "O-oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"He' getting younger!" Jasper shouted, grabbing Peridot by the shoulders and shaking her roughly. "TELL ME WHY HE'S YOUNGER!"

"I-don't-know!" Peridot stuttered out between each shake, her eyes rolling every which way as she started to get dizzy.

Lapis walked up to Steven, taking his hand in hers and staring at him with watery eyes. "Steven baby, please tell me what's wrong, please? PLEASE?!"

Steven ducked his head even more, pouting back at Lapis. "I just...you guys are thousands of years old and don't celebrate birthdays. I'm twelve and I just thought I was getting too old for silly old birthdays. That I was acting like a kid."

"You are a child the Steven." Peridot chimed in, spinning dizzily as she tried to balance herself.

Jasper walked up, kneeling by the teenage Steven and placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "Listen little guy, it doesn't matter how hold you are, if you wanna' have birthdays and wear awesome capes and crowns then you wear the crap out them. I mean look at us, we're thousands of years old and we don't act mature at all!"

"You don't act mature." Peridot mummbled, steadily bringing herself with the others and placing a hand on Steven as well. "The Steven," She began, blinking away some lingering dizziness. "Today has been both terrifying and exciting. If acting like complete fools for one day means I can have this experience with you every year, then I will gladly act like a fool."

"YOU'RE OUR BABY!" Lapis squealed, burying her face in her little mans shoulder and soaking him with tears.

Steven smiled, wrapping his arms around his family as he finally reverted back to his original age. "Thanks you guys, this has been a pretty great birthday."

"....So can I have the cape back?"

"JASPER!" 


	3. On the run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has a home, even if it's not always obvious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say how sorry I am for taking this long to crank out this chapter? I guess I could say how hard it was trying to get the characterizations down or the dialogue just right, but the real reason is I just got distracted. I'm gonna' try and keep that from happening again, and stick to a schedule of two chapters a week. That's also why this chapter is a bit big, since I kinda' owe it to ya'll anyways.
> 
> Also can I just say that listening to Olivia Newton-John's Country Roads is perfect for when reading this chapter? Thanks, have fun.

Peridot sighed, the lime green Gem busily typing away at her holo-screen as the freight car jumped a bit from the rough tracks it traveled on.  The surrounding countryside, a filled with wheat and corn fields as far as the eye could see, swayed in the mid-mornings breeze. Beside her Steven was happily munching down on a sandwich, bright yellow mustard dripped off the sides as the young boy took giant chunks out of the sandwich with his mouth, loudly chewing the lettuce and cucumbers as they crunched beneath his teeth.

It made her stomach ache. All human foods did that to her, the vast consortium of different things they stuck in their mouths was and always had been a confusing subject for Peridot. Why didn't they just stick to one single substance? Water was the obvious choice, and it seemed to have been doing a very good job of keeping the humans from dying for millions of years, yet as soon as the species had discovered other options they weren't satisfied with just plain old water anymore. Why, what was wrong with water? It was everywhere, the planet was nearly covered with it. It could even be frozen and made into different shapes, an exciting prospect that used to be enough for the humans. But above all it was tasteless, something Peridot especially liked about water. Well, she thought to herself as she paused mid-type, fresh water was tasteless. Sea water had an apparently salty taste to it, if she were to trust Japers remarks. Still, water had been doing an admirable and well job of keeping the humans alive. But whenever she'd seen the commercials on TV of the soda beverage being advertised, they almost always knocked water as being plain and boring. What was wrong with being plain?!

Peridot growled loudly before shutting off her holo-screen, frowning as she crossed her arms in frustration. She stayed that way for a while, just sitting there and bubbling in her anger about inconsequential things until a tiny pudgy hand placed itself on her shoulder. Peridot turned and looked at Steven, his small childish eyes now wide with worry. "Peri, you feelin' down about something?" He paused, holding up his half eaten sandwich. "Ya' want some of my lunch?"

"Blech!" Peridot stuck her tongue out, pushing the sandwich away gently before shivers went up her body. That horribly mustard smell was invading her sense of smell and just didn't want to leave. "No the Steven, I don't want some of your...sandwich."

"Then what's wrong? You look like you just stepped on a nail or somebody touched your stuff-"

"Has somebody been touching my stuff?!" 

"No no I was just-" The boy sighed, scooting up closer to Peridot so they were both sitting side-by-side. "I just mean you seem really...sad."

Peridot remained silent, her frown falling a bit as she thought over Stevens words. It was true, she thought, she was feeling sad. The day had started off well enough, but it had quickly turned foul, and like Steven's mustard it left a sick feeling in her stomach.

Steven was smarter than he appeared, a fact that most of the Crystal Gems except for Lapis seemed to take for granted, and as he stared at the silent Peridot a thought came over him. "Does this...does this have to do with what Jasper said earlier?"

Peridot blinked, her mind going back a few hours to that morning back at the Temple.

\---

_Peridot, along with Jasper and Lapis had returned from another morning of searching for Red Eye fragments. The pieces from the scouting eye had been more troublesome than Peridot and the others had thought, as they had soon discovered that even in pieces the Red Eye was able to still send a small bit of information from its fragments. They had collected quite a bit, but she still felt there had to be more of them out there, possibly sending information to Homeworld that could be dangerous for Earth._

_Upon stepping off the Warp Pad the trio were greeting by an excited Steven, quickly  grabbing them in a group hug. Well, as good as a group hug as the little boy could manage. His tiny arms barely made it around Jaspers first leg._

_"I missed you guys so much!" Steven cried out, getting a small grin from Jasper and another hug from Lapis._

_"We missed you too my little bundle of joy!" Lapis always did like showering Steven with her love after missions, as if spending even another second away from the boy would've meant the end of her world._

_Jasper held up one of the shards from the Red Eye, the rest of them cradled in her massive arms, for Steven to admire. "Check it out squirt, we scored big today." Stevens eyes widened in surprise as he jumped up and down, trying to get a better look at the shard while Jasper just keep raising it out of his reach and laughing like a fool. "Yeah, won't be long before we find the rest of these babies and then Earth's all safe and sound once again, thanks to yours truly."_

_There was a moment of silence before Steven spoke up. "Safe from what?"_

_Jasper immediately realized the error in her words as soon as Steven had asked what she'd meant, and she really knew she screwed up when Lapis started glaring at her. "Uhhhh." The large orange Gem was nervous, something she didn't feel very often. "Safe from...Homeworld?"_

_"JASPER!" Lapis shouted, squeezing the two shards in her hands so hard that they cracked in half._

_"What?! It's not my fault he asked about it! I mean, it kind of is but only a little bit." Jasper dropped her shards onto the ground prompting another groan of disapproval from Lapis._ _"I mean it's not like I told him what they did last time they were here." She had a big smirk on her before once again adopting a nervous look, peering down at the inquisitive Steven._ _  
_

_ "So," Steven said, looking up at Jasper and Lapis expectantly. "What did Homeworld do last time that was so gosh darned horrible." _

_ "Language." Lapis chided, picking up the dropped shards with her water wings and carrying them to her room.  _

_ "Well," Jasper started, scratching the back of her head as she squatted down. "A long time ago, Homeworld did some really bad things, because they were fat headed idiots with weak skinny arms-" _

_ "Jasper." _

_ "R-right sorry. Anyways Homeworld was doing some nasty stuff to Earth, and your mom, me, and Lapis and a bunch of other Gems disagreed with them. So we decided to fight against them, even if it meant we wouldn't get to go home." She paused, before slamming her fist into her palm with a large grin. "I kicked a whole lotta' butts though so it was pretty cool." _

_ Steven laughed, smashing his fist into his palm as well as the two of them giggled together. "So...what were they doing that was so bad to the planet?" _

_ Jasper puffed a strand of hair out of her face, suddenly seeming more irritated. "Tch, what do you think? They were busy making mistakes." _

_ The sudden crashing sound of a glass grabbed both of their attentions. Jasper and Steven looked over and saw Peridot, the shattered remains of a Red Eye shard clenched tightly in her hands as she quickly turned her back to them and brought up her holo-screen. _

_ Jasper rolled her eyes and stood back up, stretching her large muscular body and deciding to see if they had anything good to eat in the fridge, Steven quickly following right behind. "So wait, you guys can never return home then?" _

_ "Not unless we wanna' get turned into dust." Jasper replied. "Though I'd like to see 'em try." She mumbled right after. _

_ "That means you're just like the No Home Boys!" Steven jumped up and down excitedly, quickly running up the stairs to his bed and digging around for something. _

_ "The No Hom wha-?"  _

_ Steven returned quickly, shoving a book in Jaspers face featuring two boys on it. "The No Home Boys! They don't have homes either, and they go around the world solving mysteries and living under bridges and hanging out with Hobos!" _

_ "Steven we do not hang with Hobos!" Lapis scolded as she pouted.  _

_ "Speak for yourself."  Lapis mumbled before handing the book back to Steven. "But yeah squirt, I'm not seein' much of a resemblance." With that Lapis and Jasper headed back to their respective rooms, leaving Steven pouting and alone with Peridot, who was still typing away busily on her holo-screen. _

_ "Man, I wish I was a No Home Boy, I'd get to move around a lot, sleep in some hay, and even hang out with a bunch of animals!" _

_ "Then why don't we." Peridot said, suddenly standing behind Steven and causing him to jump up in surprise. "The first one I mean, not the last two." _

_ \--- _

And that brought them to their current situation, with Peridot riding on a moving freight car with Steven as they traveled the country side. "Perhaps." She finally responded to Steven.

"Ooooh, it's cause she said you guys can't ever go back home, that must be sad."

"No," Peridot said, her frown returning. "That's not why I'm....this way."

Steven was confused, if it wasn't about them never getting to return to Homeworld then what was it? "Well, if it wasn't about Homeworld then what does got you so down Peri?"

"....Why don't I show you?" 

For a moment Steven was a bit frightened, the small smile on Peridots face worried him. A lot.

\---

The duo had hopped off the train, and after walking for what seemed like hours to little Steven they finally arrived at their destination. It was a large canyon, very dark and barren of any plant life. In fact the whole area seemed to just give him a very bad feeling.

But Peridot was loving it, the small grin on her face had grown to a more noticeable one, her usual slow calculated stride suddenly having more pep in it as she moved around the canyon, pointing at the many holes in the walls. Steven noticed the large drill like machines, but kept quiet about them. If Peridot wasn't concerned then that meant it was safe here....right?

"Oooh! Over there!" Peridot raced forward, suddenly examining one of the holes with almost childlike glee. Steven ran up behind her and examined the hole as well, but didn't find anything different about it from the others. "See this hole?" Peridot ran her floating digits over the outer rim of the hole as she began speaking. "This is a where a Topaz was born! She was really excited about it too cause the hole's not that deep. OH!" Peridot ran over to another hole, this one was much deeper than the previous one. "This one had a Sapphire in it. You can tell she was pretty shy cause it's so deep." The smile on Peridots face was huge, her eyes shining like something Steven had never seen before. "She just needed a little bit of coaxing though, and pretty soon she was happy and singing and...oh she so happy Steven." 

Steven was grinning along with Peridot, listening to her tell the stories behind each of the holes, fascinated by how much Peridot knew about them when he could barely tell them apart. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something odd. It was another hole, but unlike the rest which had been fairly humanoid in shape, this one was more noticeably different. It seemed to resemble a small lower case "i", much more thin and shorter than the others. Steven tugged on Peridots arm as he pointed at it. "What about that one?"

Peridot turned towards where Stevens finger pointed, and the large smile she had slowly started to wilt, till she was actually frowning. They walked up to the hole, Peridot running her hands gently over the exterior with a much more tender movement than she had with the others. "This...this one was a Peridot." She blinked, crouching down as she peered into the darkness. But she didn't need light to know what secrets it held, she was quite familiar with them. 

"Peridot? Like you?"

"Yes," She responded, now sitting down and continuing to trace her fingers along the jagged edges of the rock. "Just like me."

Steven had a worried look on his face, he didn't understand why Peridot had gone from being so happy a moment ago to now looking so sad again. "So what was she like?"

"She was...she was a runt. She wasn't as big as the other Peridots had been when they'd been born. She also-" Peridot turned her head, coughing slightly before wiping at her eyes. "She didn't have all her limbs." Her floating fingers gently danced across the rock face, her eyes staring off into the past.

"Oh my gosh that's awful!" Steven exclaimed, small tears of his own welling up in his eyes. "Wh-what happened to her?"

"The ones in charge, they thought she was just another overcooked runt that had been cooking for too long. They called her a," Peridot paused, her body shaking slightly. "Mistake." Her eyes flashed up, face now twisted in anger. "But she proved them wrong! She showed them she was smarter than any other Gem! What she lacked in arms and legs she made up for in her intelligence. Soon she figured out how to build her own limbs, showing them that she wasn't a mistake. She grew, soon she gained enough of their trust to look after Kindergarten, they let her make decisions and she even saved more runts from being disposed of, so long as she could prove they weren't mistakes either."

Steven watched, Peridots whole body heaving up and down as her fingers scratched deep etches into the rock wall. Her whole posture screamed at how tense she was, her voice didn't even hide the hatred she had whenever she talked about the ones in charge. "..Peri, were you that Peridot?"

Peridot suddenly went stiff, her arms pulling back and clenching into fists. "Yes."

Steven was suddenly holding her hand, gripping it tightly in his two pudgy ones as he stared at Peridot with watery eyes. "H-how long were you out here?"

"A long time. Then your mother found me, I was so sure she was going to destroy me like she'd done to the others, but she just looked at me for the longest time Steven. She just looked at me before holding out a hand for me to take." Peridot gripped Stevens hand a little tighter. "I took it and never looked back. At least that's what I thought." The sudden sound of the Warp Pad activating caught both of their attentions, but Peridot quickly frowned and turned back to her rock hole when she saw the giant hulking form of Jasper appear. "Perfect." 

"Aw man I can't believe you guys are actually here!" Jasper slid down the rocky hill, kicking up dust on her way down, as she met Steven at the bottom. "What  were you thinking bringing him here Peri?!" She bent down and ruffled Stevens curly hair, but her eyes still glared at Peridots back.

"Jasper, is it true Peri was born here?" 

Jasper widened her eyes at the question, looking down at Steven with worry before glaring at Peridot again. "WHAT did you tell him?!"

Peridot snickered, turning slightly to smirk at the distraught Jasper. "Why don't you ask him."

"Jasper?" Steven quitely asked, gently tugging on the huge Gems large hand.

"Steven I-...Look you're still too young to know about this place it was..." She raked her fingers through her hair, trying to think of something. She was so bad at this, why couldn't Lapis just be here and explain it to him. She was good at talking, she practically never shut up! "Steven look, Jasper placed one of her large hands on Stevens shoulder, looking the little boy in the eye. "This is a bad place, the Homeworld did lots of terrible things here that we're still trying to fix. So many mistakes were-

**"STOP CALLING THEM MISTAKES!"**

Jasper and Steven jumped, both looking up to seeing a seething and angry faced Peridot glaring at them. Well, glaring at Jasper more like. "If you don't shut that big mouth of yours I'm going to make you shut it!" 

Jaspers face hardened, her large arm sweeping Steven behind her as she stood up to her full height and glared right back at Peridot. "Peri, you need to chill out right now or I'll-"

"You'll what!?" Peridot laughed cruelly, that angry look still on her face. "You'll talk about me some more! How the great Rose Quartz took pity and allowed an overcooked runt into her circle, how she showed so much care for the _MISTAKE_!" 

Jasper blinked,  averting her eyes as her frown softened. "No Peri that's not what I meant. I don't think you're a mistake."

"But the others were right!?" Tears pouring out of her eyes, her mouth twisting downwards as she swept her arm and pointed at all the holes etched into the side of the rock face. "We didn't ask to be born! We didn't ask to be in a stupid war we didn't have any stance on!" Peridot fell to her knees, holding her metal arms stretched out in front of her. " ** _I_** didn't ask to be born like this, but I tried. I really tried!" She brings her arms back, closing them around her chest as her tears flow down her cheeks. "But I couldn't even save the others could I? I could only save my worthless self." Peridot buried her head into her knees, sobbing as she realized just how much of a mistake she was.

Peridot heard Jaspers large foot stomps as she approached, and even felt Steven much tinier ones as he followed. She didn't know what to expect, maybe for Jasper to just put her out of her misery finally, after all what good was she to them like this. That's when she felt them, Jaspers strong arms and Steven little ones, as she wrapped around her and held her tightly. Peridot peered up from her knees, face still wet from tears, only to be surprised at the sad look on Jaspers face. "I'm sorry Peri," Jasper pulled Peridot closer, wrapping both her and Steven up in her surprisingly warm embrace. "I didn't think that's how you thought I felt. You weren't the mistake, and neither were the others born here. Homeworld using you all for war was the mistake." Jasper mentally beat herself up for being so stupid, no wonder Peri was so down. She could be a real giant orange idiot sometimes. "I really gotta' start thinkin' before I say stupid stuff."

"It would end up taking all day if you did." Peridot sniffed, wiping away her tears as she smiled up at Jasper, then turned to give Steven a small kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry if I scared you back there Steven."

Steven shook his head, still hugging Peridot tightly and vowing never to let go. "Only thing that scared me was not knowing how I could help."

"....You already have," She turned back to Jasper, smiling. "Both of you." Peridot stood, moving her hands down to hold Steven and Jaspers. "Now come on, let's go home before Lapis starts freaking out."

Jasper suddenly frowned, a worried look crossing her face. "Uh, yeah about that. She may or may not have already told Greg you were missing."

"WHAT!?" Steven and Peridot screamed out in unison.

\---

Meanwhile back at Beach City.

"Lapis how could you just let him leave the city without telling you where he was going?!"

"Well if you had just let put that chip in his head when he was younger we wouldn't be having such a hard time looking for him Greg!"

 


End file.
